Went back to Edrian's to film more re-enactments after we had a clearer idea on what to film since we now have all the content of the interviews and therefore the characters' stories pinned down.
We didn't get distracted at all today so that's a good thing.
I started the bulk of the editing today and I found it really slow and lethargic at first, to be completely honest for some reason I didn't feel very motivated. Only thing that kept me going was that I wanted this film to be finished and I didn't want to disappoint anybody either.
So I sorted through the footage for the usable clips. Ended up with a fair amount of usable material so that's good, and began piecing together the filim.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Networks: Filming day 2
Yesterday we were easily distracted but today we were very focused and out concentration did not drift.
Today we used the chromakey room to do our interview scenes. There's not much to say about them, but there's one little thing we forgot to do. I only remembered this when I got started editing out footage today.
That green reflection on our faces. What we should have done was bring along Edrian's light reflector to guide a bit of light on us to take away that green glow. It's lucky that this isn't obvious on the footage though.
Overall though, I think we did great today. Tomorrow, it shall be full on editing for me (editor) once we film the rest of the re-enactment footage.
Today we used the chromakey room to do our interview scenes. There's not much to say about them, but there's one little thing we forgot to do. I only remembered this when I got started editing out footage today.
That green reflection on our faces. What we should have done was bring along Edrian's light reflector to guide a bit of light on us to take away that green glow. It's lucky that this isn't obvious on the footage though.
Overall though, I think we did great today. Tomorrow, it shall be full on editing for me (editor) once we film the rest of the re-enactment footage.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Networks: Filming first day
Did some filming for the storyboard we have at the moment. For example, the intro and snippets of the characters' re-enactments of events.
At the moment I think there's still a lack of clarity in what we're filming. I think it's because we didn't follow most of the storyboard if we did so at all. I thought that was a bit of a problem because in my view storyboards essentially are a plan of what you're going to do. It gives a guide on what to film and how to film it, allowing for minor alterations when you get to the location.
The very root to this problem is that most of us individually had a different vision of the film in our heads. I think I should have let Ben do the storyboard instead since he had the clearest idea of what he wanted in the film (hence why he's the director), that way there's consistency between storyboard and idea of director. This is where we went wrong in my point of view.
On that note, I think I need to alter my approach a bit in working in groups. I need to sort out roles of people not according to whether they want to take up a particular role or not but to the person who's more suited for the role and able to bring maximum efficiency in taking that rule. With that in mind this would be decided on these factors: skill-level in said role, certainty in what they're doing and how would the individual affect other members if I put them in that role.
I also need to refrain from hogging all the work. I find that I have a habit of taking the work-intensive roles, which is actually counter-productive. This is because if you do all the roles which require a lot of time put into it efficiency goes down because you need to finish doing ONE thing before beginning your next task. It's much better to split these roles between members so that you can start on these difficult jobs all at once. Group linked roles on to one person, so that you get a nice flow. That would save a lot of explaining and redoing everything and this way you don't have two areas of your group work being hindered because one person is doing two completely unrelated, but difficult roles.
At the moment I think there's still a lack of clarity in what we're filming. I think it's because we didn't follow most of the storyboard if we did so at all. I thought that was a bit of a problem because in my view storyboards essentially are a plan of what you're going to do. It gives a guide on what to film and how to film it, allowing for minor alterations when you get to the location.
The very root to this problem is that most of us individually had a different vision of the film in our heads. I think I should have let Ben do the storyboard instead since he had the clearest idea of what he wanted in the film (hence why he's the director), that way there's consistency between storyboard and idea of director. This is where we went wrong in my point of view.
On that note, I think I need to alter my approach a bit in working in groups. I need to sort out roles of people not according to whether they want to take up a particular role or not but to the person who's more suited for the role and able to bring maximum efficiency in taking that rule. With that in mind this would be decided on these factors: skill-level in said role, certainty in what they're doing and how would the individual affect other members if I put them in that role.
I also need to refrain from hogging all the work. I find that I have a habit of taking the work-intensive roles, which is actually counter-productive. This is because if you do all the roles which require a lot of time put into it efficiency goes down because you need to finish doing ONE thing before beginning your next task. It's much better to split these roles between members so that you can start on these difficult jobs all at once. Group linked roles on to one person, so that you get a nice flow. That would save a lot of explaining and redoing everything and this way you don't have two areas of your group work being hindered because one person is doing two completely unrelated, but difficult roles.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Networks: More Storyboarding
Storyboarding went a long way today. Last night when I started it I had bits of Edrian's ideas of what he thinks would look good for shots in the storyboard and incorporated my own idea of a great sequence of shots in there too. It was a bit confusing because everybody had a different idea of how events should be ordered in the storyboard. Also, I found that sometimes I didn't know what to put in the story board because I didn't have the script.
So this morning I had help from Ben, who's really on to it and is really clear on what he wants and how he wants the events ordered. It's that clarity that I need to understand how to draw up the storyboard. I made him in charge of writing up the script after that since he seems to know what he's doing in terms of the order of events.
He showed the group a documentary called Man on Wire (Chinn & Marsh, 2008). Stylistically speaking it's a gorgeous film with captivating shots. This really appealed to Edrian, it fits with the look he's going for with our film. What really helped me out by watching it is how the story within the documentary unfolds through the way the interviews are filmed.
During the interviews you have the interviewees against a simple background and while they're talking the shot cuts back and forth between the interview and re-enactments of past events that they're talking about. Thus, the interviews take up the bulk of the documentary. I agree with Ben's idea on structuring the storyboard like this in that I feel it is very effective is revealing the story in a way that is not overly serious and has a more cinematic feel to it.
At the moment I've got around two thirds of the story board done. I'll have to wait for the rest of the script in order to do the rest of the storyboard. The good thing is I've got a lot of shots down and we're ready to film at least a portion of the full film tomorrow at Edrian's place.
I think once we get something filmed our group motivation will go up. This is because once you begin filming the product is so tangible and it would feel like we've made a huge step in our project. I'm really looking forward to editing the film as well, because I really love editing.
_________________________________
Reference List
Chinn, S. (Producer), & Marsh, J. (Director). (2008). Man on Wire [Motion picture]. United Kingdom: Icon Productions
So this morning I had help from Ben, who's really on to it and is really clear on what he wants and how he wants the events ordered. It's that clarity that I need to understand how to draw up the storyboard. I made him in charge of writing up the script after that since he seems to know what he's doing in terms of the order of events.
He showed the group a documentary called Man on Wire (Chinn & Marsh, 2008). Stylistically speaking it's a gorgeous film with captivating shots. This really appealed to Edrian, it fits with the look he's going for with our film. What really helped me out by watching it is how the story within the documentary unfolds through the way the interviews are filmed.
During the interviews you have the interviewees against a simple background and while they're talking the shot cuts back and forth between the interview and re-enactments of past events that they're talking about. Thus, the interviews take up the bulk of the documentary. I agree with Ben's idea on structuring the storyboard like this in that I feel it is very effective is revealing the story in a way that is not overly serious and has a more cinematic feel to it.
At the moment I've got around two thirds of the story board done. I'll have to wait for the rest of the script in order to do the rest of the storyboard. The good thing is I've got a lot of shots down and we're ready to film at least a portion of the full film tomorrow at Edrian's place.
I think once we get something filmed our group motivation will go up. This is because once you begin filming the product is so tangible and it would feel like we've made a huge step in our project. I'm really looking forward to editing the film as well, because I really love editing.
_________________________________
Reference List
Chinn, S. (Producer), & Marsh, J. (Director). (2008). Man on Wire [Motion picture]. United Kingdom: Icon Productions
Monday, March 26, 2012
Networks: Storyboarding and Planning
Today storyboarding started along with sorting out our roles and all in making the film.
We've changed our idea on the film. Before we thought we'd interview people for the film to get some info and use their experiences to make some of our material for re-enactments. However, it occurred to me that most people wouldn't share any embarrassing internet habits or experiences that REALLY stand out since most people don't want to be judged. This especially applies to what you do on the internet. The internet gives you a mask of anonymity to hide behind. Thus, it gives you the option of doing whatever the hell you want. That's a good thing, but you still wouldn't necessarily want to share all details on your internet life to people in real life unless you know them very well. This is understandable, which is why we've changed our documentary into a mockumentary instead. This gives us freedom to recreate any scenario we choose associated with our topic. It would also save a lot of time in finding and organising willing people to interview.
Less people = less organising = higher efficiency.
We also managed to catch Zoe Mcintosh to talk to about our mockumentary idea. I think that helped us a lot in getting someone else's perspective on our idea and giving us suggestions on how to approach the execution of making the film.
So far we're pretty solid on what we're doing. Now what I'm really worried about is time. We're really pushing it in terms of time, but I think whether we make the deadline or not is 50:50.
On a more positive note, I've told my group that tablets, games, and distraction in general are making a problem for us because our productivity is crap. Everyone was very good today in staying focused and no unintentional free time happened during the day. I feel really proud of that and I hope we keep on working this way. To increase group morale the next step is to create some motivation as motivation is lacking.
We've changed our idea on the film. Before we thought we'd interview people for the film to get some info and use their experiences to make some of our material for re-enactments. However, it occurred to me that most people wouldn't share any embarrassing internet habits or experiences that REALLY stand out since most people don't want to be judged. This especially applies to what you do on the internet. The internet gives you a mask of anonymity to hide behind. Thus, it gives you the option of doing whatever the hell you want. That's a good thing, but you still wouldn't necessarily want to share all details on your internet life to people in real life unless you know them very well. This is understandable, which is why we've changed our documentary into a mockumentary instead. This gives us freedom to recreate any scenario we choose associated with our topic. It would also save a lot of time in finding and organising willing people to interview.
Less people = less organising = higher efficiency.
We also managed to catch Zoe Mcintosh to talk to about our mockumentary idea. I think that helped us a lot in getting someone else's perspective on our idea and giving us suggestions on how to approach the execution of making the film.
So far we're pretty solid on what we're doing. Now what I'm really worried about is time. We're really pushing it in terms of time, but I think whether we make the deadline or not is 50:50.
On a more positive note, I've told my group that tablets, games, and distraction in general are making a problem for us because our productivity is crap. Everyone was very good today in staying focused and no unintentional free time happened during the day. I feel really proud of that and I hope we keep on working this way. To increase group morale the next step is to create some motivation as motivation is lacking.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Networks: Planning out the short film
Today our productivity was actually pretty good today although there was not much work to do.
So far, our short film is going to be a documentary, but done in a style that is more casual and stylistic. Our main inspiration in terms of style comes from a series done by Wong Fu Productions about how technology like internet and email makes romantic scenarios nearly impossible. They're quite hilarious and very true. There's four videos in their Technology Ruins Romance series. My favourite one is the one at the airport:
(WongFuProductions, 2011)
(WongFuProductions, 2010)
(WongFuProductions, 2010)
(WongFuProductions, 2010)
In Technology Ruins Romance: The Airport (WongFuProductions, 2011) a girl leaves her entire life behind to take up a job in Paris and her boyfriend attempts to intercept her at the airport. Later he realises that he can save himself a lot of running and time by simply calling her, which angers the girl because it leads her to think that she's not important enough, causing him to be rejected by the angry girl (WongFuProductions, 2011). While I think that the guy is being very practical at trying to stop her from leaving and I don't agree with the girl's reasons for being mad, I do agree with the point that WongFuProductions is trying to make in each of their videos in this series. What they're trying to say is that technology makes things so effortless for us, in communication especially, that the "romance" of communicating is lost.
An easy way to understand that is by using these examples:
Receiving a letter posted to you from a friend is much more satisfying than getting an email from a friend. Here's why: To send a letter you have to physically write it, get up, go to the nearest post box and pop in your letter. Email requires you to stay in the same spot and simply hit send. Therefore a letter feels more personal.
An acquaintance who doesn't have FaceBook saying Happy Birthday to you is more surprising and pleasant than an acquaintance saying Happy Birthday to you on FaceBook. Here's why: They actually listened and remembered when you mentioned when your birthday is that one time. It's not difficult to remember birthdays with FaceBook reminders so it's really nothing special.
A more depressing example is that it's easier to get over someone breaking up with you in person compared to someone breaking up with you over a text or instant messaging. Here's why: You're still important enough for them to break you in person.
You get the idea. Non-digital ways of communication are seen as more personal and valuable because of the effort it takes not to do it the easy way.
Now back to the short film.
There will be some interviewing which we'll need to organise. We're still in the planning stage so things are likely to change. Should have it all pinned down by Monday though.
The short film is important for the first term as it finds out information we need for next term to design our alternative network to the internet. I think this way it ties in very well with what we're doing for next term while simultaneously serving our main purpose in the documentary about how we're relying too much on having internet access and email.
Overall, I'm quite confident that we're going in the right direction.
Today I've listened in on other groups as well. Most groups are in the same stage as we are, planning and sorting out details in this term's project. However, a lot of us agree that we need a bit more guidance and feedback. It's hard to know whether you're on the right track or whether your idea is good enough when there's actually nobody available to give feedback, especially when everybody's schedule's are quite tight.
I think I need to take this into consideration when planning for my group. We're certain with what we're doing now, but I'm sure at some point in the future of this semester we'll need some guidance from a lecturer just to make sure we're going in the right direction.
Another thing to consider is really motivating the group to increase productivity. Today was good, but that was because there wasn't much work to finish. Therefore it's still impossible to say how we would perform if it's a regular day's work. My main concern is distraction. I'd say our biggest distraction is games and drawing on a tablet. It would be beneficial to ban tablets and games in my group until the day's work is complete. I really don't want us to do everything at the last minute because we lack self-control and at the moment that is really worrying me while making me feel guilty at the same time.
___________________________________________
Reference List
WongFuProductions. (2010, February 9). Technology Ruins Romance: Destiny [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIiW0Trk3T0&feature=relmfu
WongFuProductions. (2010, February 9). Technology Ruins Romance: The Letters [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGr1lQAREB0&feature=relmfu
WongFuProductions. (2010, February 9). Technology Ruins Romance: War Torn [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6rc5zuX5TA&feature=relmfu
WongFuProductions. (2011, February 14). Technology Ruins Romance: The Airport [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26d9HLsURPM&feature=relmfu
So far, our short film is going to be a documentary, but done in a style that is more casual and stylistic. Our main inspiration in terms of style comes from a series done by Wong Fu Productions about how technology like internet and email makes romantic scenarios nearly impossible. They're quite hilarious and very true. There's four videos in their Technology Ruins Romance series. My favourite one is the one at the airport:
(WongFuProductions, 2011)
(WongFuProductions, 2010)
(WongFuProductions, 2010)
(WongFuProductions, 2010)
In Technology Ruins Romance: The Airport (WongFuProductions, 2011) a girl leaves her entire life behind to take up a job in Paris and her boyfriend attempts to intercept her at the airport. Later he realises that he can save himself a lot of running and time by simply calling her, which angers the girl because it leads her to think that she's not important enough, causing him to be rejected by the angry girl (WongFuProductions, 2011). While I think that the guy is being very practical at trying to stop her from leaving and I don't agree with the girl's reasons for being mad, I do agree with the point that WongFuProductions is trying to make in each of their videos in this series. What they're trying to say is that technology makes things so effortless for us, in communication especially, that the "romance" of communicating is lost.
An easy way to understand that is by using these examples:
Receiving a letter posted to you from a friend is much more satisfying than getting an email from a friend. Here's why: To send a letter you have to physically write it, get up, go to the nearest post box and pop in your letter. Email requires you to stay in the same spot and simply hit send. Therefore a letter feels more personal.
An acquaintance who doesn't have FaceBook saying Happy Birthday to you is more surprising and pleasant than an acquaintance saying Happy Birthday to you on FaceBook. Here's why: They actually listened and remembered when you mentioned when your birthday is that one time. It's not difficult to remember birthdays with FaceBook reminders so it's really nothing special.
A more depressing example is that it's easier to get over someone breaking up with you in person compared to someone breaking up with you over a text or instant messaging. Here's why: You're still important enough for them to break you in person.
You get the idea. Non-digital ways of communication are seen as more personal and valuable because of the effort it takes not to do it the easy way.
Now back to the short film.
There will be some interviewing which we'll need to organise. We're still in the planning stage so things are likely to change. Should have it all pinned down by Monday though.
The short film is important for the first term as it finds out information we need for next term to design our alternative network to the internet. I think this way it ties in very well with what we're doing for next term while simultaneously serving our main purpose in the documentary about how we're relying too much on having internet access and email.
Overall, I'm quite confident that we're going in the right direction.
Today I've listened in on other groups as well. Most groups are in the same stage as we are, planning and sorting out details in this term's project. However, a lot of us agree that we need a bit more guidance and feedback. It's hard to know whether you're on the right track or whether your idea is good enough when there's actually nobody available to give feedback, especially when everybody's schedule's are quite tight.
I think I need to take this into consideration when planning for my group. We're certain with what we're doing now, but I'm sure at some point in the future of this semester we'll need some guidance from a lecturer just to make sure we're going in the right direction.
Another thing to consider is really motivating the group to increase productivity. Today was good, but that was because there wasn't much work to finish. Therefore it's still impossible to say how we would perform if it's a regular day's work. My main concern is distraction. I'd say our biggest distraction is games and drawing on a tablet. It would be beneficial to ban tablets and games in my group until the day's work is complete. I really don't want us to do everything at the last minute because we lack self-control and at the moment that is really worrying me while making me feel guilty at the same time.
___________________________________________
Reference List
WongFuProductions. (2010, February 9). Technology Ruins Romance: Destiny [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIiW0Trk3T0&feature=relmfu
WongFuProductions. (2010, February 9). Technology Ruins Romance: The Letters [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGr1lQAREB0&feature=relmfu
WongFuProductions. (2010, February 9). Technology Ruins Romance: War Torn [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6rc5zuX5TA&feature=relmfu
WongFuProductions. (2011, February 14). Technology Ruins Romance: The Airport [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26d9HLsURPM&feature=relmfu
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Networks: Final Day of Research
I feel very proud of myself today. Yesterday I didn't do much, but today I made up for it by finding some quality sources that my group could use to inform our work and help us write our individual 1000word texts.
Sifting through the research I've got it's evident that modern day society is extremely dependent on electricity. However, the technology we have now--such as our GPS, power grids, satellite transmissions and so on--is vulnerable to severe space weather such as strong solar storms (Phillips, 2009). As of 2012, we are heading in to a solar maximum, which predicts strong solar storms to follow (Jaggard, 2008). So for us making a small scale model of an alternative system is quite relevant I think.
There was one website that I did not accept as one of my sources at all because frankly I thought it was ridiculous. It takes a little bit of scientific fact but leaves out all the details and blows it out of proportion. I saw that particular article as fear-mongering to be honest. It made out that a solar flare would blast Earth into oblivion saying that "thousands would die within the first week". It's like certain people being paranoid over a nearby dying star going into its supernova stage. Naturally, supernovae are pretty destructive because of the amount of power they put out, but the thing is, for a supernova to have any effect on Earth at all it has to be within 26 lightyears from Earth. There are NO dying stars that are anywhere near 26 lightyears from us.
Always question information you find. Question the source, be critical of how they got that data and the context in which it is written. It would be incredibly stupid of anyone to believe anything they read even if it appears to be written formally.
__________________
Reference list
Jaggard, V. (2008). Magnetic-Shield Cracks Found; Big Solar Storms Expected. Retrieved March 21, 2012, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/12/081217-solar-breaches.html
Phillips, T. (2009). Severe Space Weather--Social and Economic Impacts. Retrieved March 21, 2012, from http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/21jan_severespaceweather/
Sifting through the research I've got it's evident that modern day society is extremely dependent on electricity. However, the technology we have now--such as our GPS, power grids, satellite transmissions and so on--is vulnerable to severe space weather such as strong solar storms (Phillips, 2009). As of 2012, we are heading in to a solar maximum, which predicts strong solar storms to follow (Jaggard, 2008). So for us making a small scale model of an alternative system is quite relevant I think.
There was one website that I did not accept as one of my sources at all because frankly I thought it was ridiculous. It takes a little bit of scientific fact but leaves out all the details and blows it out of proportion. I saw that particular article as fear-mongering to be honest. It made out that a solar flare would blast Earth into oblivion saying that "thousands would die within the first week". It's like certain people being paranoid over a nearby dying star going into its supernova stage. Naturally, supernovae are pretty destructive because of the amount of power they put out, but the thing is, for a supernova to have any effect on Earth at all it has to be within 26 lightyears from Earth. There are NO dying stars that are anywhere near 26 lightyears from us.
Always question information you find. Question the source, be critical of how they got that data and the context in which it is written. It would be incredibly stupid of anyone to believe anything they read even if it appears to be written formally.
__________________
Reference list
Jaggard, V. (2008). Magnetic-Shield Cracks Found; Big Solar Storms Expected. Retrieved March 21, 2012, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/12/081217-solar-breaches.html
Phillips, T. (2009). Severe Space Weather--Social and Economic Impacts. Retrieved March 21, 2012, from http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/21jan_severespaceweather/
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Networks: Research
Second day of research today. To be completely honest productivity is pretty low and nobody's doing much except for Ben at the moment. I think he's more on to the research compared to the rest of us. This is most likely because we're being distracted by our tablets, so we're drawing and digital painting instead of researching.
From now on I think all tablets should be put away so that we can actually get our work done. If this continues the results wouldn't be good.
From now on I think all tablets should be put away so that we can actually get our work done. If this continues the results wouldn't be good.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Networks: The idea and plan
Last week was spent getting our idea sorted for this network project. In this brief, to sum it up, we need to make something that's either based on a network, about a network, or a new network altogether. Basically, we're exploring what a network is, what it does, how it works, and so on.
My group for this project is Tim, Edrian, and Ben Cornelius.
When brainstorming we were really interested in biological networks, such as the dispersal of pathogens and how they impede the functioning of the network that is the human body whilst agitating another network that is the immune system. Another one was the blood stream as a network with the heart at the centre and creating an alternative network for it to change it from a centralised network to a distibuted network. This is so that if your heart fails for some reason or another, you'd steal have several other hearts to keep everything running.
However, we felt that these biological ideas weren't quite right for us. It felt like something was missing from these ideas. I think it's because even though those biological networks are really cool and all, we didn't actually have a clue with what we were actually going to do about those particular network.
So in the end we settled with the idea of creating an alternate network to internet and email that is not so reliant on electricity, considering how we're so dependent on electricity for everything to run.
This is a big project, so it will span the first semester. In the first half we would be further refining our idea and gathering research to inform our work.
This first step is particularly important for our individual work. My policy on making groups is that everyone in my group has to get at least a C grade out of this project. I.e. All of us have to pass. Unless of course, they don't put any work in, but I can't do anything about that. Basically, it's still up to the individual to get the mark they deserve although my schedule does take individual hand-in requirements into consideration.
The result of the first half of semester would be a short film to illustrate our reliance on having internet access and email for communication.
One semester sounds very long, but days pass by quicker than you think it would. So I drew up a schedule for the first half of semester for my group to follow in order for us to meet the deadline.
Another thing I was really into while brainstorming was the Rube Goldberg machine. They're elaborately engineered to the point of excess to do very simple tasks. So technically it's a beautifully designed useless machine. I'm not sure if it counts as a network though, but it does have a protocol.
I like how it's designed and the effort it takes to make these machines. I imagine that when you makes something that moves and works you get a lot of satisfaction from it. So I think when we build our network we can design something amazing like that, except it would be more practical and built within reason of course.
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